National Pension Service Acquires 23,845 Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation by 2.7%, acquiring an additional 23,845 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 892,819 shares worth $64.7 million.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Edwards Lifesciences, with Barclays raising its target from $90 to $95 and Wells Fargo increasing its target from $84 to $88, reflecting a generally optimistic outlook.
• Insiders have sold a total of 17,134 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in the last ninety days, indicating potential profit-taking among company executives.

National Pension Service grew its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 892,819 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,845 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.15% of Edwards Lifesciences worth $64,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Edwards Lifesciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 116.1% during the 1st quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 402 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EW shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Daiwa America raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.40, for a total transaction of $198,918.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 50,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,897,554.40. The trade was a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Larry L. Wood sold 8,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.23, for a total transaction of $673,308.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 206,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,565,087. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,134 shares of company stock valued at $1,311,745 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the company's stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

NYSE EW opened at $78.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.87, a current ratio of 4.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a 12-month low of $64.00 and a 12-month high of $83.00. The company has a market capitalization of $45.91 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's 50 day moving average is $77.11 and its 200-day moving average is $74.35.

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.05. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 72.96% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Edwards Lifesciences Corporation will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names.

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